CatchLight Global Fellowship

What you will actually pay

Entry costs, explained.

Free application; no paid route is listed.

There is no entry charge to recover. The significant investment is preparing a proposal, budget and visual edit that explain what the fellowship will make possible. [1]

A proposal about use, audience and change

CatchLight describes three broad aims: inventive distribution, community engagement and stronger ways of sustaining visual storytelling. An existing body of work can be a starting point; equally, a project may still be developing. Our advice is to identify the intended audience before selecting images. A precise account of who will encounter the work, and how, is more convincing than a general promise to raise awareness. [2][3]

The application asks for a 10–20-image edit or video material, a proposed-work description, audience and deliverables statements, distribution plans, a timeline and budget, three references, biography and CV. The word limits are short enough that each section needs a distinct purpose. Avoid spending the audience section repeating the artist statement; use it to demonstrate a route from the photographs to actual people. [1]

Selected work receives substantive attention

In Collateral, Anna Frattini examined the work of the 2026 fellows Katie Baldwin Basile, Gulshan Khan and Michael Lees, discussing their approaches in Alaska, southern Africa and the Caribbean. This is independent editorial engagement with the recipients’ projects, rather than only an entry announcement. It supports a credible specialist profile, while offering no guarantee of equivalent coverage for every fellow. [7]

The published jury includes photojournalist and former fellow Johanna Alarcón, film-fund co-founder Lisa Kleiner Chanoff, curator Abby Chen, photographer and educator Ala Kheir, and Photo London director Sophie Parker. The range fits a programme spanning still photography, filmmaking, education and exhibition. It is not a camera-club judging brief: the idea’s public life forms part of the assessment. [6]

US$30,000 per fellow, with ongoing support

Three recipients receive US$30,000 each: US$90,000 is the total, not an individual award. The FAQ states three payments between the spring summits. It allows a living stipend in the budget and describes paid flights and hotels for invited CatchLight events. Coaching, staff support and a professional network supplement the money; possible future funding is a possibility rather than a second guaranteed grant. [3][4]

Fellows agree milestones with staff, take part in quarterly reviews and provide material demonstrating the work’s impact. They also credit CatchLight’s funding in relevant project materials indefinitely. These obligations can improve a project’s discipline, but applicants should budget their own time for them rather than spend the entire award on production. [2]

Individual leadership, with room for collaborators

The 2026 call was open to all nationalities. Applications and interviews are in English, although translated applications are accepted. The FAQ allows portfolio work from any stage of a career, not only pictures from the proposed project, and accepts projects at different stages. No fixed image-capture window is stated. Collaborators can be budgeted, but a collective cannot apply in place of an individual. [4][1][3]

Promotional use is specified; other uses require negotiation

Applicants supply five to ten promotional images, released for CatchLight publicity if they reach the interview round. The FAQ limits use to promoting recipients and the fellowship, and says other uses require individual negotiation of licences and fees. A fixed promotional licence term is not published in these pages. We regard that scope as reasonable, but applicants with agency restrictions should clarify the final agreement before supplying restricted images. [1][3]

The reviewed call is closed

Applications for the 2026 cohort ran from 15 November to 15 December 2025. The linked submission portal now says there are no open calls. A later application window has not been verified. Keep the programme bookmarked, but prepare against the next dated call rather than silently advancing last year’s timetable. [4][5]